5 HK-based agencies with the best culture that others can learn from

Turnover is always a challenge for every business - more so in the agency world given the long hours and tough work. To combat the issue, a significant investment in workplace culture and professional development is one of the ways agencies can help build a happier workplace. To retain the best talent, agencies must make employees more satisfied with their jobs and duties and equipping them with necessary skills to face the challenges ahead — similar to the agencies we include in this article. 

We turned to our 2021 Agency of the Year Hong Kong results to find out who our judges thought were the five agencies with the best culture in the city. We've listed our top 5 winners alphabetically. Our list of agencies below won over our independent panel of high-calibre, client-side marketers not only by displaying the work they have done for clients, but also through their desire to nurture talent.

CMRS Digital Solutions

Part of the CMRS Group, CMRS Digital Solutions draws on the strengths of its team with digital and social media marketing professionals to deliver tailored solutions to clients. 

As the pandemic has changed the way people work, CMRS Digital Solutions believes that the concept of the office is not bound by geographical locations, and what matters is the welfare of its staff. Over the past year, it has moved its office online and created an Instagram account @CMRS2DO. While the "2-DO" spirit is an agency culture, the agency said employees bond together with ideas to stay "closely distanced". The Instagram account is also used to connect business partners. 

The agency leverages technology to amuse staff and even do job interviews. For example, It hosted a virtual Christmas party last year with many rounds of prized games with Instagram Stories, and interviewed summer interns via Instagram to test their social media skills. The agency believed that students felt less shy when using Instagram and they could show the inner side of themselves. 

Fimmick

Full-service digital marketing agency Fimmick has been around for over 12 years and is headquartered in Hong Kong. The agency provides customised integrated digital marketing, social media marketing, programmatic and automated online advertising, creative marketing campaigns, content marketing, video production, mobile first marketing, customer relationship management, and influencer marketing solutions.

The agency has worked with notable brands such as AIA, Nestle, Shiseido, ASUS, Samsung, Panasonic, Coca-Cola, 3M, DBS, Bossini, and many others. Currently, its team has over 120 talents in Hong Kong with a majority of them being Millennials and Gen Z. It also expanded its account servicing, content creative digital partnership and growth and CRM departments.

Mentors and job rotation schemes are also created to ensure that the agency's talents are nurtured. Learning programmes and allowances are also provided by the agency to keep them abreast of industry trends. Fimmick often organises webinars, Weekly Learning Wednesdays and Digital Fridays for its staff to learn through teaching as well. Last year, it also enabled flexible working hours and remote working for its staff.

OMG Performance

The OMG Performance team focuses on a total of six parts for its staff, including work-life balance, knowledge exchange, communications, the culture of open dialogue, teamwork and motivation and rewards, which are aimed at enhancing their well being and equipping them with skills to meet the challenges ahead.  

To enhance employees' skills, OMG Performance offers a series of onboarding training for junior staff to attend and all of them passed Google Digital Guru and The Trade Desk Programmatic training. Each teammate also gets a chance to participate in an internal competition to showcase their excellent works. The winner of the competition is awarded cash incentives and gifts. The agency also invested in professional development for its leaders through Omnicom University, a global leadership development programme to nourish its talent to learn more about leadership, communication and coaching skills.

OMG Performance also hopes to better communicate with its staff. Its quarterly town hall session allows the management to meet and connect with employees of all levels, knowing and listening to their questions and concern. 

As for employees' well being and team building activities, OMG Performance organised small team workout sessions during lunch breaks, while it also organised monthly birthday celebrations for each employee, as well as a photo shooting event as part of the team building day to capture happy moments with awards won in the previous year. 

Tag Hong Kong

As a creative production and sourcing business, Tag Hong Kong has been working with team members to challenge the status quo on behalf of clients, driven by a collective obsession with delivering content at scale and creativity at speed, allowing production processes to inform creative outputs.

The agency encourages open, transparent and collaborative communications among staff, making the office an inclusive and enjoyable place to work, with team members from all different backgrounds enjoying equal opportunities.

Throughout 2020, Tag Hong Kong placed a renewed focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. In early 2020, the agency established and launched the Global DE&I council with each market electing a local DE&I champion, building on the foundations that have been laid from the Hong Kong office’s focus on DE&I in previous years. As a result of an employee-wide survey, Tag Hong Kong outlined three areas of focus: representation, recruitment and development, and employee engagement and retention.

The agency does not tolerate any kind of workplace discrimination, and all employees have round-the-clock access to a hotline that provides staff with a channel to report different kinds of issues in the office, including harassment or discrimination, anonymously.

Xaxis Hong Kong

Xaxis Hong Kong invests heavily in its staff as the agency believes that employees are the winning factor, while it offers internal and external training from local to global levels to ensure everyone could equip themselves. It provides up to six months of training to new joiners before they take up individual tasks and duties, nurturing and fully equipping them with solid knowledge on products, tools and workflow, before sending them to the battlefield. 

All staffers are required to participate in all global, regional and local workshops to receive up-to-date information on trends, technology, products, data partnership, and other areas. Also, it has established Learning Hub, a virtual classroom providing video courses, tests, and assessments that allows employees to learn and practice. Its content covers technology, time management, coaching, display adverting and display trading.

Also, the HR team arranges interim reviews with colleagues for talent management to better understand their motivations, concerns and career aspiration, assisting and supporting them to further develop their careers in the agency.

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